How to hack a 1 bedroom apartment

How much space do you need?

A 1 bedder is approx 60m square including balcony. For you to stay at home alot then the apartment would have to appear spacious. The increase to a two bedder is approx~170k more which is potentially 5 years of savings.

After watching small living. The following ideas pop into my head.

Have furniture with lots of air. Eg a glass table so the weight of the table top doesn’t make the space claustrophobic. Something like this. Bonus as well if the table is round.

Here we can see the square table with solid top visually distracts from the amount of space we have

Another apartment with a round and clear table top. If we picture a solid top, it would make the place look smaller

Clear all the uncessary clutter

This is pretty self explanatory. Remove items that can break your sight lines. This will create the illusion of space. Also having clutter means things don’t accumulate in your small space.

Not necessary to see the items on the table top (toaster, etc). The microwave and oven should be hidden as well

Take things off the ground

Where possible add those features that would sit on the ground, move them to the wall. This includes lights, bed headboard and TV. It frees up the space around the ground and introduces a vertical element to the space. Also add paintings to add the the vertical availability of the space.

Floating headboard allows creates vertical interest and provides extra storage space without taking any ground

Limit colours and patterns

This is basic design for me. Stick to a few colours and patterns because everything will blend in wheel. You can try to mix alot of things, but that just gets harder with more thing. There is not enough space to constantly change the environment.

Look at all the clutter, visually the space feels smaller but this is a 82sqm apartment

Get everything in the same colour

Small rooms are hemmed by the four walls, they dissappear if the entire room is the same colour; floor, wall and ceiling.

Everything is white. and also the walls add space with the horixontal lines from the panelling.

Sheets that are visually distracting and a inconvenient located drawer makes this room look small even though it is 3.3 x 3.6m

This bedroom 3.3 x 4.3m (lengthwise) looks alot bigger). Painting at the top with a tall plant to provide vertical

Have the furniture reach the ceiling

No wasted space above the kitchen cabinets. They may be harder to reach, but all you need is a small step ladder

Hope you liked these points for apartment living and if you would like to know more than please subscribe or hit like!

The place where people think about death daily

You would be suprised but they are the happiest people on Earth. In Bhutanese culture, one is expected to think about death five times a day. And this is their secret to happiness. Pretty remarcable isn’t it?

How often do we think about death

We live in a civilised society. The thought of dying is an aspect in our distant future. something that will happen some day – but not today.

When was the last time you were exposed to the concept of death – touched a dead body, fresh wounds, rotten things. But this is part of the human condition

Would you act differently if today was your last day to live? How would you choose to live your life if there was no tomorrow? We do not think about death at all.

The comfort of the developed world

Death for the most part is a statistic or something shown on the evening news. We see results of it, but never is it linked to our being. We go through life thinking about the mundane things – What should I eat for lunch, this person is being annoying, did you hear what happened yesterday?

Life is about relative states. We cannot feel water if it is the same temperature as our body. We do not enjoy food if we are stomachs are empty. I believe we cannot enjoy life without thinking about death. The eventual end of our state.

Confronted with the end we will recognise what we truly care about. Visiting family, friends. Putting yourself out there on front of the stage. We all may take different paths in life, but we all start and end in the same place.

What does this do for me

Thinking about death provides perspective and contrast.

you will take fear and realise that you have not long for this world. Life is short and full of pain. Why not have a chance to do something enjoyable.

Think about times when you only have 40% battery left on your laptop. You have to do what you need to do and make haste.

Death is the final deadline, and as readers may know, deadlines put a rush and pressure to get things done. Funny how the mind works like that.

Buddhism

“If you are not aware of death, you will not be mindful of your practice, but will just spend your life meaninglessly, not examining what sorts of attitudes and actions perpetuate suffering and which ones bring about happiness.” — Dalai Lama

Closing thoughts

Life is short. Egg yourself on knowing that you are not long for this world.

Inspiration drawn from In Bhutan, People Think About Death 5 Times a Day

View at Medium.com

I bought bitcoin for the first time and here is what i discovered

BTC.

High risk – Huge upside and downside. The question is it a store of value or worthless?

$335 billion USD Market Cap with 18 million coins. If it reaches 3T market cap this will be worth $166,000. $13 Trillion Gold market.

What to do? Load up enough for 2BTC first and then go for 3.4BTC.

This will act as a hedge for the future, as blockchain is a disruptive force – just like the internet was in the year 2000.

The current question is whether it is in a bubble like the 2000 dot com. Currently the governments are printing cash due to the supporting the economy during the coronavirus.

If we think 10 years from now what will the scene be like. Probably the same – as what is the correction loop to fix the high asset prices and large debt. Increasing interest rates – and this will cause people to go bankrupt.

Easier to make the bottom % of people with a tough life rather than the top % suffer. As it is – losses hurt 2x more than wins. The people at the bottom will slowly see things get more expensive, wages stagnate, inflation rises for products not counted in the inflation rate.

As such those left behind will turn to a life of debauchery as there is no future for their kids. They will turn to enjoying themselves, buying things and taking holidays. all the while decrying about the high asset prices.

A position needs to be taken on BTC and even 10% of the networth to be invested into this as a hedge. If massive inflation happens – you still have value stored on the BTC.

If you enjoy this post please see my other posts.

I wish someone had told me when I was younger. The dating scene at 35

We live life in the moment and do not consider how our dating life will be in the near future. I take a look at what is in store in the next few years and how i can make the transition more smoothly.

I recently spoke with my friend Cheong, who is korean and now 34. He is no longer getting any matches on the apps – specifically Hinge and CMB. His profile was better than average. Why was he not getting any matches? Was 34 outside the band of women selection, had the existing supply been exhaused, a change in the algorithm?

Our first theory was that 34 was outside the band of women selection. That a women at 24 would limit herself to men up 30. This is inline with our belief system. Cheong is going to try testing with a lower age to get matches and the real age on the profile.

For men, if we think about barriers of mental and perception, I believe they would be 30, 35 and 40. These are where changes to your life are expected. Whether promotion in your job, marraige or kids, having your own house.

If you are 35 and still live at home, doing a low position then an outside person looking would assume that you are not so successful. And therefore without value.

This gets me thinking – what do men want? For men this would be indicators of virility – young, beautiful and healthy. This approximiately occurs 24-27. And for a man at 34 that would be 10 to 7 years the difference. So we have established what the buyer wants. Now what does the seller want?

The familiar trope is that females have the 666 dating rule – 6ft, 6 pack, 6 figure salary and older than them. I believe that is pretty much the standard for women (similar to how like men like younger women).

On the face of this, it is inocuous. However statistically 6ft is 1.82m which is the top 20% in height, 6 pack which is 10% and 6 figure ~40%. And this is the same for 90% of women. For a man to have all these attributes that would be 0.008% of men.

Conclusions

I have pased 30 and still int he same postion – my next barrier will need to be 35. The work needs to be put in these 2 years. When I am 35, she will be 27. Which is actually quite good.

6ft – check, 6 pack – no, 6 figure – not enough

Squeeze more into your day – are you wasting time with these activities

We only have so much battery in our lives

We spend every week time on things that do not matter, or that have a 0.00001% on our lives. And we fool ourselves by saying we do not have the time. What are these things? Find out below.

1. Watching the daily news. Is it important to be informed about daily news – or has it been sold to us by copy. “Be well informed about the goings in today, don’t be the clueless person at the next dinner party”. We make no actions after watching it. Let other people tell you at the dinner party whats going on so they can feel smart.
2. Looking at the daily price of stocks. I am not short trading and in it for the long hual. Selling way in the future, then what is the point of looking at it dailey. Do i look if the cake is baked every few minutes? Again does not impact your daily cost averaging or sales. No point
3. Instagram. Only to advertise or make sales
4. Twitter. Again the same thing, only twice per week should be the setting.
5. Soccer. Why do you watch this again?
6. online shopping (list what you need and buy)

If bored look at word list or focus on goals. Theres is only 10% of the year left.

Things that i should do more

1. Call and talk to people and see how they are doing
2. check up on industry news
3. create more (practice writing and speaking)
4. complete your to do lists

Stuck at home due to corona? exercise with fitness tubes

I have compared 2 popular products – Powertube ($40AUD), and China-ebay ($16).

Get the product from Powertube. The china-ebay is rubbish as the manufacture cut corners. The item is clamped and after 2 uses my clip fell off. Picture to follow.

Get the powertube with quick delivery here

Do your kid’s eyes hurt from watching TV? Protect their eys and reduce eye strain, set up Bias Lighting today

Do you ever hear your kids complaining about their sore eyes? Do you ever notice even your eyes start to fatigue after watching TV? What is happening is your eyes are being forced to work extra hard due to your viewing environment.

Why Screens Strain Our Eyes

Your eyes work on averages – When you look at something, eg. car headlights in the distance, a pretty landscape, or a television screen, the pupils dilate to regulate light entering your eyes. The dilation is triggered by the average light received by your lights from the entire scene—not just the single brightest point of light within that scene.

When you watch television or use the computer in a dark room, your eyes see the screen as a window of bright light in the sea of darkness which is your room. The screen is very bright compared to the room. Your eyes adjust to the average brightness across your entire field of view (which includes the room) instead of only the screen brighness.

This causes two problems – First, you’re not seeing the blacks on the screen as dark because the rest of the room is darker.

Second, and more important, your eyes rapidly fatigue. Your eyes are set in the middle between bright screen and dark room. They need to focus when comprehending the bright screen. And this is why you feel dry or watery eyes, discomfort, and even tension headaches radiating from the temple. In some cases people have been getting ocular migraines—visual disturbances or even extreme headaches from the intense eye strain.

So lighting is very important for your kids. Bias lights can help a lot. Your kids eyes are not fully developed at a young age.

How Bias Lights Relieve Strain

The key is to increase the brightness in the room without introducing problems that arise from just indiscriminately flipping all the lights on.

Let’s look at the below 3D mockup of a pretty typical living room setup.

In your typical space, you have ceiling lights, floor and table lamps—all of which are located above or, in the case of maps and accent lighting, in front of the screen at roughly the same height as the viewer’s head.

Turning on these lights while watching TV does mitigate the issue of the bright screen framed against a very dim room. However, it introduces a more problems. Lighting to the side or behind the viewer projects light onto the viewing monitor. This decreases contrast, introduces glare and haze to the image, and creates another eyestrain problem.

Bias lighting is placed behind the screen you are viewing, unlike regular lighting. This raises the surrounding light levels in your viewing area without shining light toward your eyes or toward the screen itself.

The light originates outside of the sight line of the viewer and does not reflect onto the screen, you get all the benefits of increased light in the room without the problems of glare or light shining directly from the source into your eyes.

The Bonus Benefits of Bias Lighting

It makes your TV look better

First, the additional indirect lighting provided by the bias lighting increases the contrast of the on-screen image, making your picture look better.

Refer to the optical illusion image above to see the effect made apparent. The bar that stretches across the center of the image is one constant shade of gray (RGB: 142, 142, 142) but it appears to be lighter in on the dark side of the gradient and darker on the light side of the gradient. This illusion, known as the simultaneous contrast illusion, illustrates how your eyes perceive gray to be darker and richer when seen against a lighter background (on the right side), but more washed out when seen against a dark background (on the left side). Illuminate the wall behind your screen and the same contrast illusion takes effect: the grays and blacks on your screen appear richer, and the contrast seems stronger between them and the surrounding area. This makes your blakers black without shelling for an expensive monitor

Reduc brighness

Many people adjust the values for brightness and contrast to higher levels in order to get the intensity of color and black contrast they desire. They increase the brighness to that of a headlamp!

If the environment you’re watching the screen in already helps boost the contrast and create a better looking image on the screen, then you can turn the brightness back down. Not only will your eyes thank you because the screen isn’t shining at your face like a headlamp, but you’ll extend the life of the backlight mechanism in your HDTV or monitor.

Eye fatigue reduction, better looking images, and a longer life for your monitor’s backlight? What’s not to love about bias lighting? Let’s take a look at how to set it up so you don’t have to live another day with screen-induced eyestrain and washed-out pictures.

How to easily Select and Set Up Bias Lighting

Fortunately for you, it’s really cheap to implement a perfectly functional bias lighting system.

There are very pricey ways to go about doing it (such as purchasing a Philips TV equipped with their custom color-shifting bias lighting Ambilight system) but there’s absolutely no need to incur such expenses when there are plenty of inexpensive alternatives.

First, let’s break down what makes for a good bias light and why. Then, let’s look at some economical DIY and off-the-shelf solutions.

Selecting a Bias Light

Colour temperature is important

Light bulbs have a color temperature listed using the Kelvin Color Temperature Scale. Lower numbers correspond to warmer and more red the light; the higher numbers, the cooler and more blue the light. Candle flames are 1,900K and are very warm and cast a reddish/yellow light. Standard incandescent light bulbs are ~2,800K and quite warm. “Cool White” or “Daylight” bulbs have color temperatures ranging from 5,000-6,500K.

That temperature we want is 6500K. That is the reference point used in the industry that both screen manufacturers and content creators use.

The bulbs (CFL or LED) inside your TV or monitor are calibrated to 6500K. The film and digital video is color corrected to have a 6500K white reference point. The editing suites where content is edited and worked on have 6500K bias lights. Regardless of whether you use a fluorescent tube light, a strip of LEDs, or an incandescent light bulb, you want one with as close to a 6500K color temperature as you can get if your goal is to maximize the quality of the on-screen image.

This immediately rules out the majority of lighting we use around our homes, as there is a distinct consumer preference for warmer light. What makes for a homey and warm feeling in your abode makes for a poor bias light.

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19/11/20 – first edition copy

3 ways to network better

If you were to recommend someone to do some work for you – who do you trust? If someone that you know recommends – then you will most likely use them. This is because it saves you time and effort to vet – this person has already been vetter by your friend.

It is the same with jobs. If they can see you have done a good job or they know you from dealing with you elsewhere. They can comfortable recommend you for the job.

Therefore it is always key to excel at your job and make connections with who you deal with on a daily basis. From there people will know you can provide advice or recommendations to others.

3 ways to get better at networking is

1. always have a positive attitude
2. be humble and ask about their role and challenges
3. remember people’s names and give praise where warranted

Networking and by extension making friends is very important. They will provide you with opportunities if you are passionate in a particular field. The world does not only revolve around reading the internet – i need to get into real life and connect with others.

What’s behind the curtain? We discuss things to strive for in life

You always want to make efficient use of your time. More for less. What gives you the greatest returns for your effort. The end goal is to do what you want and the ability to find a quality mate.

The more money, the less obstacles. The guy searning the most money need to make 200k plus per year. Going from 100k to 160k pa is a 60% jump, and approx 30k after tax more per year. 30% extra cash. The reality is more because baseline overheads would be similar.

But earning 160k pa will increase lifestyle inflation so he may be only 20% better off. The real secret is building that second income and feeling rich with an increase en equity. This could be as much as 50k per year for doing nothing due to an increase in house prices. This is where I am falling behind.

In the end, desire, and the insatiable need for more will always increase. Spending – houses, car, vacations and status symbols. These all burn the $$$. And provides the stable provider archetype.

If you want to follow the other category then small indicators of wealth would be fitness/size and mastering another category. This will provide bonus points to whoever. The barbell approach.

I would say that because I am tall, this is already an outlier, if I was to be massive. This would bring me to the top percentage of body types that is seen as desirable. Pair this with a fitness slant, will push the buttons for some and earnings can be surpassed.

Conclusion. Continue with the current path and try to exceed, but focus on health and side biz. These will provide greater returns in the future if i can differentiate myself.

Clothes – simple is fine / Car – Simple – 4WD / Health – +++ / Hobbies – Outdoorsy, fitness, bailar / Idiomas – Mandarin, spanish no bueno / Housing – roomates for years still